Year by year, our growers face more challenges in producing the same or more yield with the same amount of nutrition. The crisis of raw materials in 2020, the limited availability of fertilizers in some moments, and limitations of Phosphorus application or availability in soil are just some of the challenges seen in recent years.
Nutrient use efficiency (NUE) is a critical aspect of modern agriculture, focusing on optimizing the use of nutrients to enhance crop productivity while minimizing environmental impact. Efficient nutrient management and quality biostimulants are essential for sustainable farming practices, ensuring that crops receive the right amount of nutrients at the right time and improving the efficacy of the nutrients applied.
The most critical factors that affect the NUE can be summarized in 2 groups:
- Soil Challenges:
Soil properties, such as texture, structure, and organic matter content, affect nutrient availability and plant uptake. As soils tend to “lock” / “block” nutrients or lose the capacity to retain them, most nutrients applied to them tend to be leached and lost.
Rovensa Next Biostimulation 360° strategy brings solutions that will increase the root capability of our crops, maximising the Nutrient Use Efficiency:
Wiibio based on microorganisms capable of boosting the siderophore production that can bind the elements and keep them available and close to the roots, making the microelements applied available for longer time to absorb them and produce the ROI the growers need.
We know it works – Wiibio’s capacity to increase the capacity of the roots to absorb Iron and Phosphorus thanks to the production of siderophores.
High quality humic acids product based
- A historic product tested and used worldwide, based on high quality Humic Acids like Humifirst / Turboroot will increase the nutrient uptake of the Macroelements in all the crops, in all soils. Besides proven results in increasing the availability of the nutrients in the soil, Humifirst will boost the root development of our crops, increasing the capacity of absorption of the nutrients and water, thus, reducing the lixiviation risk and blockage of the nutrients.
We know it works: *graph showing the percentage increase in all nutrient absorption vs control (100%) in the crops of maize and potato.
- Plant challenges:
Some crops in certain vegetative stages have a high requirement of a particular nutrient but cannot absorb all the quantity they need in a specific development moment. Apple crops, at the end of the fruit growth will need to absorb and mobilise Calcium in a very large quantity to be able to develop the fruit with a good quality and shelf life. Another example is oilseed rape/colza, a crop that needs a very high quantity of Boron during vegetative development up to flowering to create an optimum flowering organ that can be converted in seeds pods able to provide a high oil yield.
As the need for a nutrient is higher than the plant capability to absorb it in that moment, the volume of the nutrient is not a limiting factor, but the plant capacity of absorption.
Rovensa Next Biostimulation 360° strategy brings foliar solutions that will boost the translocation of all the essential nutrients from the plant to the fruit!
Our biostimulants, based on high concentrations of free amino acids like Delfan Plus and Vegenergy, boost the translocation of all essential nutrients through the plant.
Our Phylgreen range, our biostimulants based on 100% pure cold extract of Ascophyllum nodosum, stimulates metabolism and increases the capability of absorption of nutrients.
We know it works
- 2 trials in apple in Poland (left) and France (right) showing the Calcium Use efficiency in 2 varieties (left) and reduction of Calcium disorder Bitter Pit (right)
Apple is another case where the need for preharvest Calcium nutrition outweighs the plant’s capacity to absorb and translocate the nutrient. Thankfully, Biostimulation 360° brings Delfan Plus, our Amino Acid capacity to increase the absorption and translocation of Calcium, reducing the Calcium nutritional disorder called Bitter pit, as can be seen in the trial below.
- Addition of Phylgreen Biostimulant increases the use of Boron and yield in OSR, Lithuania
Crops such as oilseed rape/colza (OSR) or legumes require a high quantity of Boron, element that is not easily absorbable or translocated.
For this reason, the Biostimulation 360° program developed Biostimulants that can improve the absorption of B, such as Phylgreen BMo. In this case, a lower amount of Boron is added to the plant, but the increased capability of absorption, thanks to the Seaweed effect, boosts the yield.
Conclusion
Nutrient use efficiency is a cornerstone of sustainable agriculture, balancing the need for high crop productivity with environmental stewardship. By understanding the factors affecting NUE and implementing effective strategies based on Biostimulation 360°, farmers can achieve optimal nutrient management, ensuring a profitable and sustainable farming future. Embracing innovative practices and technologies will be key to enhancing nutrient use efficiency and meeting the challenges of modern agriculture and Rovensa Next has developed during the years a wide range of solutions, especially for the emerging challenges in modern agriculture, and Biostimulation 360° is a cumulation of all the Biosolutions in a sustainable program to help produce more with less.
